Build my open home plan
Tell us how much time you have, whether the property is occupied and whether pets are present. We will create a reusable checklist for today's inspection.
Open Home Ready Checklist
From lived-in to inspection-ready — fast.
A reusable pre-open-home reset for the final hours before buyers arrive. Prioritise what they will see, smell and experience without trying to deep-clean the entire property every weekend.
Choose how to use this resource
Build today's plan — or explore the full guide.
If an inspection is approaching, build a fast personalised reset based on the time you actually have. If you are planning ahead or want the complete strategy for maintaining a sale-ready home, open the full guide.
Show me the full guide
Skip the questions and explore the complete open-home preparation method — including repeatable campaign routines, occupied-home strategies and when a quick reset is no longer enough.
Different job. Different checklist.
Photography prepared the campaign. Open homes maintain it.
Once the campaign is live, the goal changes. You are no longer preparing every surface for the camera. You need a repeatable routine that restores presentation after normal life — quickly enough to use before every inspection.
Think reset, not deep clean.
The best open-home routine protects the work already done: remove daily clutter, refresh high-touch areas, reset kitchens and bathrooms, manage odours, improve light and finish the entry. If something genuinely needs deep cleaning, separate that job from the inspection-day rush.
Build today's reset
What does this inspection look like?
We will adjust the checklist to the time available and whether people or pets are still living in the property.
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Today's priority
Do the last five minutes last.
Do not put bins away, straighten cushions and polish the kitchen tap first, then spend an hour creating new footprints and clutter. Work from practical jobs toward presentation details.
A repeatable inspection rhythm
Protect your energy across the campaign.
If you are living in the property while it sells, the sustainable approach is to keep a small number of systems running between inspections rather than rebuilding the whole home from scratch every Saturday.
Contain daily clutter
Give school bags, laundry, toys, chargers, paperwork and pet gear temporary homes that can be cleared quickly.
Maintain the hard work
Wipe showers, benches and cooktops as you go so the original campaign clean lasts longer.
Reset the night before
Laundry, dishes and major tidying are easier before inspection morning. Leave only floors, surfaces and presentation details.
Use one exit routine
Lights, blinds, temperature, bins, pets, cars and final doorway check — in the same order every time.
Selling while you live there
You do not need to live in a display home.
A campaign can run for weeks. The aim is to make inspection preparation manageable enough that normal life can continue between opens.
Create a “leave the house” basket.Keep last-minute chargers, toiletries, pet items, paperwork and small daily clutter together so they can leave with you rather than being hidden randomly throughout the home.
Do not fill every cupboard with inspection clutter.Buyers may open built-in storage. Use tubs, baskets, the car or an off-site storage option for items you genuinely need out of sight.
Keep one room from becoming the dumping ground.A room full of displaced belongings simply moves the presentation problem. Give excess items a planned destination between inspections.
Complete open home guide
What buyers experience in the first few minutes.
An open home is not another photography session. Buyers are physically moving through the property, opening doors, standing in rooms and noticing how the home feels as well as how it looks. That shifts the preparation priority toward cleanliness, space, light, smell, comfort and easy movement.
Occupied homes need a refresh clean — not just a tidy.
When people are living in the property, kitchens, bathrooms, toilets and floors continue to collect normal daily build-up between inspections. Maintain the original campaign clean with a quick vacuum and mop where needed, freshly cleaned wet areas and kitchen surfaces, then complete the decluttering and presentation reset.
Odour is part of presentation.
Cooking, pets, damp laundry and rubbish can change how a buyer experiences a property immediately. Remove the source and air the home where appropriate rather than relying on strong fragrance to cover it.
Room-by-room open home priorities
Where to spend the final hour.
Kitchen
Empty the sink, clear benches, remove dish racks and bins, wipe the cooktop and check obvious marks on tapware, splashbacks and cabinetry.
Bathrooms
Remove toiletries and bathmats, straighten towels, close toilet lids and check mirrors, vanity surfaces, chrome and visible shower glass.
Living & bedrooms
Make beds, simplify surfaces, contain chargers, toys and laundry, straighten soft furnishings and keep walkways and sightlines clear.
Entry & outdoors
Sweep the approach, remove deliveries, bins and loose clutter, tidy the main entertaining zone and check the front door and nearby glass.
When the reset stops being enough
Campaign presentation can be maintained professionally too.
If the campaign is running for several weeks, glass, bathrooms, floors and everyday household build-up can gradually lose the presentation achieved before photography.
ExitMaid CampaignCareDesigned to support properties while they are actively on the market, with presentation-focused cleaning that helps maintain the campaign standard between photography, inspections and key sale moments.
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